For years, Josefina Swensen searched in vain for a Spanish-language Mother's Day card for her Colombian-born mom, Angela Munoz.
"She speaks some English, but I wanted it to be more thoughtful," Swensen said. She used to comb specialty stores for cards but often ended up with something written in English for her mother."But it's not a problem anymore," Swensen said, noting that she recently discovered Hallmark's "Primor," a line of Spanish-language, all-occasion greeting cards.
Hallmark also carries "Mahogany," a line of cards for blacks. It began in 1987 as a promotional trial with 16 cards. Consumer demand was so great the line has grown to 800 cards, according to the greeting card company.
"It's an excellent idea," said Jeanetta Williams, head of the Salt Lake NAACP chapter and an avid card-sender. "A lot of times you'd find a card where the words are just perfect, and it's not like you're discriminating or anything, but you want to send somebody a card that reflects their nationality. What this does is give everyone an opportunity to recognize the different cultures and be able to appreciate them."
Williams used to stock up on cards when she was out of state or seek them out in specialty shops. But she now finds that mainstream Utah stores are beginning to stock more diverse greeting cards.
Clair's Hallmark in Crossroads Plaza carries the Mahogany and Primor lines, and both are popular with customers, said store manager Nancy Ehrich.
"We get lots of input from the ladies who buy them. In fact, that helps me reorder cards," Ehrich said. "These are really beautiful cards. They're well done and well thought out."
It's not uncommon for Anglos to buy ethnic cards for their friends, and many customers buy Primor cards for people who are on church missions in Spanish-speaking countries.
At Christmas the store also carries holiday cards in many languages. These usually are sold out only a few weeks after they are put on display, according to Ehrich.
These more diverse cards encompass traditional holidays and events, such as Mother's Day, as well as certain ethnic celebrations such as Kwanzaa, an African-American holiday that starts Dec. 26 and runs for seven days. Based on the traditional African festival of the first crops, the word Kwanzaa comes from a Swahili phrase that means "first fruits."
Clair's Hallmark traditionally has carried cards for Jewish holidays and celebrations, but last year Ehrich wanted to expand the Hanukkah offerings to include other items because she had heard it was difficult to get them in the Salt Lake area. She created a special section with cards, wrapping paper, gifts, candles and Hanukkah menorahs, which hold eight candles instead of the usual seven found in a regular menorah.
Customers loved the section, and she plans to feature it again this year.
Some of the new Hallmark cards are general in nature, such as a congratulatory card for newlyweds that shows a stylish black couple in wedding regalia and includes a basic message of good wishes.
Others celebrate a particular heritage. One example is a card showing a blackbaby girl in a pink bassinet. Inside, the message reads:
"What a beautiful new daughter,
"So precious and so small.
"Her generation is the pride
"And future of us all.
"And with such special parents
"To teach her lovingly,
"She'll learn the values
"That will keep
"Our people strong and free."
Hallmark also has geared the cards toward specific tastes. Mahogany cards tend to show people on their covers, while the Primor line emphasizes objects such as a bouquet of flowers or a religious symbol.
"Focus groups have told us that Hispanic people are not interested in seeing people on cards, but other icons like flowers. They want to see designs that are significant to that occasion," said Rashena Lindsay, Hallmark spokeswoman. "For a birthday, they want balloons on the front with a package, or stars and confetti and a birthday cake."
That contrasts with data from focus groups for the Mahogany line, which indicated strong preferences from the black population for paintings, sketches or photographs of people on greeting cards.
"They didn't want just black- or brown-colored people, they wanted people who really looked like African-Americans," Lindsay said. "They wanted the cards to look like real people and have the skin tones of African-Americans. Not everyone has the same color, so the cards reflect that."
Hallmark has been making Spanish-language cards since the 1940s but introduced the updated Primor line in 1991. It now has 1,600 card designs.
Not every store carries every type of card, Lindsay said. The stock in a particular store usually is determined by demographics, past sales and other information, although store owners try new promotional lines and can request particular kinds of cards.
Hallmark commands 40 percent of the greeting card market, according to Lindsay. Other major card producers are American Greetings and Gibson. Together the three companies have 85 percent of the market covered.
The most popular holidays for card-giving are Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Easter.
Mom certainly won't be left out this year.
Lindsay said that the greeting card industry anticipates Americans will give 155 million cards for Mother's Day this year.